Recent Advances in Cooperative N-Heterocyclic Carbene Catalysis

Hideto Miyabe

doi:10.5772/intechopen.101328

Abstract

The N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) open the new field of organocatalysis, leading to the dramatic progress on the cooperative NHC catalysis with transition-metal catalysts or photocatalysts.

Highlights

In the past few decades, N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) open the new field of organocatalysis in synthetic organic chemistry [1]
Cooperative catalysis has been expanded by the combination of NHCs with transition-metal catalysts or photocatalysts [10]
The use of transition-metal catalysts in the NHC catalysis has become a widespread strategy for cooperative catalysis, NHCs are known to act as a ligand for transition metals

Summary

Introduction

In the past few decades, N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) open the new field of organocatalysis in synthetic organic chemistry [1]. Chiral NHCs have gained increasing attention as a powerful and versatile organocatalyst for the enantioselective synthesis of various molecules with structural diversity and complexity [2–7]. A wide variety of chiral NHC precursors were developed, chiral thiazolium-derived carbenes are the most widely used catalysts for asymmetric synthesis. New methods and strategies for NHC catalysis are emerging continuously, leading to remarkable progress on cooperative catalysis using NHC/Lewis acid, NHC/Brønsted acid, and NHC/hydrogen-bonding organocatalyst [8, 9]. Cooperative catalysis has been expanded by the combination of NHCs with transition-metal catalysts or photocatalysts [10]. This chapter highlights the recent dramatic progress in the cooperative NHC catalysis with transition-metal catalysts or photocatalysts

Cooperative NHC catalysis with transition-metal catalysts

Cooperative NHC catalysis with photocatalysts

Conclusions